Born to die
by kara.mellark135
Summary: Cato and Clove. Trained to kill. Born to die. Please read and review
1. Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain

This is his last night. I'm not sure I can handle saying goodbye but it is Cato and he is my best friend so I grab my coat and head out the front door, locking it behind me. My mother is asleep so she should be okay. Tonight should have been hell for her, knowing what could happen tomorrow but her illness keeps her oblivious. That is the one and only perk of my mother being ill.

I head along the dirt path to the old hall that we call the centre. It used to be a training facility for Peacekeepers but now it is used to train only the best, potential tributes for the Games. It's a secret that everyone in District 2 knows but it is only ever talked about in whispers. Everyone wants their son or daughter to be selected to become a career but only 6 are trained at a time. I am one of them and so is he.

I climb over the chain link fence and run round the corner and under the shelter at the back door as the rain starts to fall lightly onto the grass. He isn't here yet but I guess I am a little early. As I see him run round the corner I get butterflies in my stomach like I always do whenever I see him. And as always I completely ignore them. Cato would never feel the same. He would never pick me out of his throngs of admirers from all over District 2.

As he reaches the shelter he shakes the water out of his soaking wet hair sending a shower of rain drops over me. I moan in protest but he just flashes his dazzling white smile at me and gives me a giant bear hug.

"Sorry Clover, managed to sneak out did we?" He laughs.

Clover is his nickname for me. He started calling me that just after we became friends. It was my first week at the centre and we were picked as partners for fight training. After I somehow managed to beat him he went in a mood with me and said that it was beginner's luck. Hence the name Clover.

"Yeah, she is in her bed, as usual so it wasn't that hard. Most parents would be freaking out tonight but she is fine." I sigh.

"You know she would be if she were… you know 'really here'. Believe me it's much better she is oblivious than worrying all the time, it would only make her worse." He reassures me.

He always knows how to make me feel better. That's how we get on so well.

"Thanks Cato." I pause. "Are you still absolutely sure about tomorrow?" I ask, hoping for an answer I know I won't get.

"One hundred per cent." He says with a smile "I thought we were sticking to the plan?" He says.

The plan was that since this was Cato's last year to go into the games, tomorrow at the reaping he would volunteer, win, come home and help out his family with the money he won and then give a small amount to me to get medical help for my mother. Then next year when my mother is well enough to not need around the clock care, I would volunteer, win, then come home and have my mother cured. Our plan was fool proof… well apart from the fact that we could both die while trying to execute it but we were skilled and we had each other.

"Yeah, we are but I just can't help worrying that you will get hurt." As I say it I feel my cheeks burn red.

"I will be fine." He says while awkwardly shuffling his feet on the gravel on the floor of the shelter.

I can tell there is something wrong.

"Are you sure you're ok? You seem a little off?" I ask.

"It's just- oh it doesn't matter. It's getting late you'd better get home to your mom. Early start remember?" He says with a laugh.

"Ok, well I guess I will see you tomorrow then…good luck. I will…um…miss you." I manage to choke out.

"Yeah, you too." He replies looking at his feet. He opens his mouth to say more but stops before any words can slip out.

We walk round the corner together and climb over the fence. We live at opposite sides of town; we look at each other one last time. We will see each other tomorrow but this feels like the last time _just for us. _

The rain is heavier now, pouring, thundering onto the tin roof of the centre, we turn away and start to walk our separate ways. I'm glad I have my hood up so he can't see the silent tears of goodbye trickling down my cheeks. But then I hear something. It's him.

"Clove! Wait!" He shouts.

I turn around to see him running towards me. Puddles leaping up to splash his legs and he comes closer and closer. He finally stops right in front of me, so close I feel his warm breath on my face. He has a look of longing in his eye as if he was about to do something he had wanted to for a long time.

He moves his hand up to caress my cheek and whispers:

"Just in case I don't come back."

He leans in and kisses me. Its everything I had dreamed it would be. The way his lips felt against mine, the warmth of him pulling me closer. I can't believe it. Out of all his admirers me? I didn't seem real. And then it is over. Just like that. So quick but so beautiful. I look into his deep, blue eyes and whisper.

"I know you will."


	2. Oh my heart it breaks, every step

I wake up to the sun streaming through my bedroom window, illuminating my skin. I stretch, trying to wake myself up. I think about Cato and the rain and last night, hardly believing it was real. Then I remember what day it is.

The Reaping.

Today is the day he leaves. But he will come back and we will be together. I know we will.

I get ready and slip into my favourite green dress. I brush my hair deciding to leave it hanging down around my shoulders, in loose curls, rather than scraping it back in my usual style. I look at myself in the mirror. I'm not particularly pretty. Not like some of the girls I know. Not like some of the girls that like Cato. Was last night his way of telling me know he has chosen me? I will speak to him when he is allowed visitors before he leaves but I can't say too much. For all we know we could be live on TV, with the Capitol cameras everywhere.

I look at the small clock on my bedside table just as I hear the bell calling everyone to the town square. It's time to go.

Cato will have already said goodbye to his mother and father. They arrive at my door to look after my mother while I am away. Hopefully only for a couple of hours.

My name is entered 22 times today. Being 16 doesn't really help the odds. I could easily be reaped like any other kid but today isn't the day. I can feel it. I will be fine. And even if I am reaped I would be ready. I have trained for this, I _am_ ready. I can do it.

The only thing is that Cato wouldn't be able to volunteer. If he did then only one of us would come back and that is the unthinkable.

It had to be both or neither.

I say goodbye to my mother and Cato's parents and walk down the street to the town square. I see some of my friends on the way there and give them a nervous wave.

As I approach the square I see the big screens with the Capitol seal projected on to them. What is it like there, in the Capitol, I wonder? With the tall buildings and the crazy outfits people wear.

I sign in hardly feeling the needle prick my finger, for a blood sample to prove my identity. I walk through the crowd to the section for the 16 year old girls. I look down to the front of the stage and see Cato standing with his hands in his pockets, confident as ever, not one nervous bone in his body.

Once everyone is sorted into their sections, the usual video is played on the big screen of how the Hunger Games unites us as a nation and keeps us all together. Then the Capitol escort Domitia Ivory steps up to the mic.

"Happy Hunger Games!" she exclaims in her sunny, Capitol accent. "And may the odds be ever in your favour! Shall we get started then?"

She walks over to the giant glass bowl containing the names of every boy in our district aged 12 to 18. She digs deep into the bottom of the bowl and picks out one small, white slip of paper. Almost everyone here knows this is pointless, they are all aware that this is Cato's last year to become a victor and expect him to volunteer.

"Horne Caldwell" she calls out. "Where are you Horne?"

Horne steps out of the 12 year old boys section shaking like a leaf. My stomach is in knots knowing what will happen next.

"I volunteer!" Cato shouts from the front, stepping out into the isle. "I volunteer!"

"Looks like we have a volunteer folks! Would you please come up onto the stage young man." She says, being a little too keen.

_They will love him in the Capitol,_ I think to myself, doubting if I can handle him being the hearts desire of every Capitol woman.

"What's your name?" she asks him.

"Cato Fairbain" he replies looking over and winking at me. I get butterflies in my stomach.

"Let's move on to the girls then shall we?" she says moving over to the bowl of girls names.

Once again she digs her hand deep into the bowl pulling out a name. My hands start to shake. It won't be me. It won't be me, I whisper to myself. There is silence apart from the unfolding of the paper signing some poor child's death sentence.

"Clove Edenthaw!" she says.

That death sentence is mine.

I feel like the world has fallen from beneath my feet. We both can't go in. Only one will come back. The unthinkable has happened. I look around me, expecting someone to volunteer. Nitya, one of the trainees, was supposed to. Wasn't she?

I accept finally that no one is going to take my place and make my way out into the isle and up the steps onto the stage.

Cato looks just as shocked as I am. He can't take back volunteering now.

"Well, what a splendid pair of tributes we have this year. Come on, shake hands!" she says.

We turn to face each other and shake hands. Cato forces a smile which I don't return.

"Lovely! Goodbye everyone! Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favour!" she exclaims.

We are forced through the front doors of justice building and into separate rooms, where our families will come to say goodbye.

Just before we are split apart, Cato whispers in my ear.

"It's all going to be ok."

How could that possibly be?


End file.
